Most students who have applied to college are familiar with the section in the Common Application that awkwardly asks students to “please list any additional information you think we should know about you.” 

In a perfect world, this question would be a wonderful opportunity for the nearly 50% of high school students with mental health struggles to explain their story, especially if these diagnoses affected their academic careers. 

However, many students are concerned that their honesty will negatively affect their chance of getting into top colleges.

Formally, colleges cannot discriminate based on mental health. They often use words such as “holistically” to explain their mission to look over the “whole applicant” (not just their academics, but passions and activities). However, looking past the common holistic values of most universities, lawsuits against Yale University  (among others) illuminate the prejudice students with mental health disabilities face for providing background and the unfortunate outcomes of simply giving colleges more information beyond their sports and clubs. 

College admissions counselor Meghan Miles says the choice is left up to the students. 

 “We do advise kids on those things sometimes, but we really leave it up to them to disclose or not disclose anything personal. That can mean anything from a divorced family situation where you are caring for the younger siblings a lot, a medical illness, or struggling due to hospitalization for depression or anxiety.” 

She added, “Students often feel that there is a stigma against mental illness, so deciding whether to mention that is hard.”

 Students who saw their grades drop because of  hospitalization a leave of absence might be more inclined to discuss their mental health troubles “It depends on the impact of your grades. If you can’t really see the dip, then it’s up to you. If there is a serious B-to-D situation, sharing is always a good idea.”

She did offer an optimistic view, though. “Many schools are liberal in terms of their admission policy. It becomes the super competitive ones that are a little bit harder to know when not to share”. 

Social worker Mr. Dan Maigler says LFHS is more willing to work with students facing mental health issues than many other schools. 

“At this school, in particular, we are really accommodating about dropping classes and giving extensions, but at other schools, like the one my nephew is at, they were unwilling to drop a grade due to hospitalization and then he had an F on his transcript.” 

He does say, however, that “showing colleges you can overcome challenges proves you will not freak out and drop out, and that’s just as important; it always pays to be honest.”

Senior Sydney Rubinstein, who just finished her college application process, worries that she may be penalized for missing school.

“As much as I wish I wasn’t, I do think that I was disadvantaged for missing school. Leaving school for such a long period of time caused an extreme buildup of missing work which was so hard to complete. I had half a semester to make up,” she said.

Rubinstein knew she had to include her mental health information, though, because, as she puts it, “it gave more insight in to some of my grades and classes that were drastically different than the previous semester.”

Looking back on her applications and still awaiting many colleges’ responses, she feels a bit apprehensive to jump to any conclusions. “I honestly think there is no real way to tell if the colleges I applied to are understanding or not. I just wanted to give them a well-rounded picture and be truthful,” Rubinstein said.

While there will never be full certainty on whether to include certain health information, recognizing the possible unfortunate outcomes is a necessity during the application process. As Mr. Maigler puts it, “We cannot pretend there is no impact in taking time off of school. But there are 6,000 colleges in the United States. It’s about finding that fit, not the rejection rate. The more students focus on that, the healthier they will be”.